How the Supralinguistic Structural Category of Language Was Identified

Supralinguistic is a term Dr. Elizabeth Carrow-Woolfolk, PhD, coined to describe language knowledge and use beyond the literal meaning of the word, such as understanding double meaning or humor. 

While developing the original CASL speech-language assessment, Woolfolk came up with the label for utterances that could not be classified as semantic or grammatical.

“The semantic and grammatical categories include sentences, but the sentences are literal,” Woolfolk said. “It was important to find a category for sentences that meant something different from a literal utterance, as in sarcasm, indirect requests, inference, or figurative language.”  

In the CASL-2, supralinguistic is one of six index scores that are based on factor analysis.

“What surprised me when we compared the factor analysis results was the comparison of the supralinguistic category [“supra” meaning beyond the purely linguistic] with those of the semantic and syntactic,” Woolfolk said. “The theoretical decision to give non-literal utterances a category of their own is now justified by the difference found between supralinguistic utterances from the semantic and the syntactic categories. Apparently, supralinguistic utterances require a different type of processing skills than the other two.” 

The reason why these three structural aspects of language are different remains unclear. It may be that the degree of cognition required by each also differs, Woolfolk said, adding:  

• The syntactic category appears to require greater perceptual recognition and automaticity than the other two.  
• The semantic category is comprised of words and their meanings, the meaning being an important part of knowledge and therefore essential to acquiring the words.  
• The supralinguistic category requires the ability to recognize the common element in utterances that have the same structure, but with opposite meanings.  

Referring to the supralinguistic category, Woolfolk said, “The ability to understand the meaning requires knowledge [that] has already been acquired by a listener.”

Interested in learning more about CASL-2? Click on the link to read up on your favorite speech-language assessments.

Related: 

How to get the most out of the CASL-2, clinicians’ favorite speech-language assessment

Video: Autism spectrum brains 'get energy' from these things

MIGDAS-2 Case Study: Early intervention for Stevie and Danielle

How to select sensory toys that can improve clinical evaluation